This invention relates to apparatus and a method for removing successive layers of articles from a stack, and thereafter forming them into a row wherein each article in the row has a preselected orientation.
Various articles, such as cases, or cartons, of bottled or canned goods often are stacked in a plurality of vertically stacked, unconnected, substantially horizontal layers on a pallet, for transporting and handling. Various means and methods have been devised in the past in an attempt to provide efficient and safe means for unloading, or depalletizing, articles from such a stack. However, past devices, for the most part, have proved less than desirable, and for this reason hand labor is still the most used means for depalletizing a load.
A general object of the present invention is to provide novel apparatus for receiving a stack of articles disposed in vertically stacked, unconnected, substantially horizontal layers and successively removing layers from the stack.
Another object is to provide such novel apparatus in which the articles when removed from the stack, and carried away from the stack, are in substantially the same orientation they had on arriving at the unstacking apparatus, in that they are neither inverted, nor laid on their side when fully unloaded.
More specifically, an object of the present invention is to provide novel unstacking, or depalletizing, apparatus which includes a bottom support adapted to receive a stack of articles thereon, a side support operable to support an upright side of the stack, and means for laying the stack over in the direction of the side support with the side support and bottom support remaining in contact with their respective sides of the load, to support the load as it is laid over. The apparatus also includes means for then returning the bottom support to its substantially horizontal position to return the bottom layer of the stack to a horizontal position where it may be conveyed away, while remainder layers in the stack are held in their laid-over positions by the side support. With such apparatus, the articles are unstacked, or depalletized, in such a way that they are carried away from the stack in substantially the same orientation they had on arriving at the apparatus.
Yet another object is to provide such novel apparatus in which the bottom support is returned to an upright position after removal of the first layer, and which further comprises a top support operable to engage a top side of the stack of articles, and slide it along the side support toward the bottom support to facilitate removal of the next layer in the stack. In this way, successive layers of the stack may be removed.
A still further object of the invention is to provide such novel apparatus which, after removing a layer of articles from a stack, is operable to rearrange the articles from a layer into an elongate row, and carry such row away from the unstacking apparatus.
Where rectangular articles, such as elongate cartons, are carried on a pallet in a plurality of layers, they often are disposed in their individual layers with various ones of the cartons extending substantially normal to other cartons in the layer. With such angular orientation of articles in one layer, and a different angular orientation between articles in overlying and underlying layers in the stack, a somewhat keyed together condition is provided in the stack to provide a more stable load and to prevent the stacked articles from toppling from the pallet.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide novel apparatus which is operable to receive a layer of articles in which certain articles in the layer are in angularly disposed relationships to other articles in the layer, form the articles into an elongate row with various ones of the articles having their lengths extending transversely of the row, carrying the row along a path extending longitudinally of the row, and turning such transverse articles to a position in which their lengths extend longitudinally of the row. With such apparatus, all of the articles from a layer may be disposed with their lengths extending longitudinally of the row.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel method for removing articles from a layered stack including the steps of receiving the stack at a receiving station, laying the stack of articles over on its side, and thereafter removing successively from the bottom of the stack layers of such articles and conveying them away from the receivng station.